1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to a system for providing content to a user, and more specifically relates to a system for providing licensed content to a user.
2. Background Art
Computers are very useful for storing and retrieving information. The popularity of the Internet has changed how many people live due to the large amount of information that is readily available on virtually any subject of interest. For example, many people when confronted with medical symptoms will first search online for information regarding the symptoms and recommended courses of treatment before consulting their doctor. In addition, many people have changed how they receive their news. Where a person a generation ago would get their news from a daily newspaper and the evening news program on television, more and more people choose to receive their news online.
The widespread popularity of the Internet has given rise to the need to deliver licensed content to users upon request. The term “licensed content” as used herein is any content that requires the user to do something in exchange for receiving the content. One form of licensed content is paid content. For example, many web sites provide content in exchange for the user paying a fee. If a user pays the fee, the user may then access the information on the website. Another form of licensed content is free content that is provided in exchange for the user agreeing to certain conditions. For example, the user might be required to enter his or her e-mail address in order to access the licensed free content. In the alternative, the user may be required to agree to view advertisements in order to access the licensed free content. Yet another form of licensed content is content provided by one web site when the user is a paid subscriber to a different partner web site. Of course, there are many other possibilities for licensed content. The disclosure and claims herein expressly extend to any suitable form of licensed content that is provided to the user upon the user satisfying one or more conditions, whether the licensed content is currently known or developed in the future.
Some web sites and other content providers now provide licensed content from a number of different sources. This complicates the process of providing the content to a user because the content provider must check to see if the user is licensed to receive the licensed content from each of the licensed sources. If the user is not licensed, the licensed content is not provided to the user. If the user is trying to access a document that includes licensed content from ten different content providers, and the user has a license for only two of those ten content providers, the user may become very frustrated at the inability to access the information from then non-licensed content providers, and may not know what steps to take, or even who is the provider of the missing content.
One possible way to mitigate the frustration of a user at receiving licensed content is to provide the licensed content on a per-object basis. However, users have historically shied away from per-object pricing, preferring a flat fee model. One reason for this is the uncertainty at the final cost of receiving the licensed content. A user may be willing to pay a higher flat fee instead of paying on a per-object basis so the user is certain of the charges. Without a way to automate the process for a user to obtain licensed content, the process for the user to access licensed content from multiple sources will be inefficient and frustrating for the user.